Letters to His Son 1759-65 | Page 5

be
soon out of her chains; for I have, by long experience, found women to
be like Telephus's spear, if one end kills, the other cures.

There never was so quiet, nor so silent a session of parliament as the
present; Mr. Pitt declares only what he would have them do, and they
do it 'nemine contradicente', Mr. Viner only expected.
Duchess Hamilton is to be married, to-morrow, to Colonel Campbell,
the son of General Campbell, who will some day or other be Duke of
Argyle, and have the estate. She refused the Duke of B-----r for him.
Here is a report, but I believe a very groundless one, that your old
acquaintance, the fair Madame C------e, is run away from her husband,
with a jeweler, that 'etrennes' her, and is come over here; but I dare say
it is some mistake, or perhaps a lie. Adieu! God bless you!

LETTER CCXXXIX
LONDON, February 27, 1759
MY DEAR FRIEND: In your last letter, of the 7th, you accuse me,
most unjustly, of being in arrears in my correspondence; whereas, if our
epistolary accounts were fairly liquidated, I believe you would be
brought in considerably debtor. I do not see how any of my letters to
you can miscarry, unless your office-packet miscarries too, for I always
send them to the office. Moreover, I might have a justifiable excuse for
writing to you seldomer than usual, for to be sure there never was a
period of time, in the middle of a winter, and the parliament sitting, that
supplied so little matter for a letter. Near twelve millions have been
granted this year, not only 'nemine contradicente', but, 'nemine
quicquid dicente'. The proper officers bring in the estimates; it is taken
for granted that they are necessary and frugal; the members go to
dinner; and leave Mr. West and Mr. Martin to do the rest.
I presume you have seen the little poem of the "Country Lass," by
Soame Jenyns, for it was in the "Chronicle"; as was also an answer to it,
from the "Monitor." They are neither of them bad performances; the
first is the neatest, and the plan of the second has the most invention. I
send you none of those 'pieces volantes' in my letters, because they are
all printed in one or other of the newspapers, particularly in the
"Chronicles"; and I suppose that you and others have all those papers
among you at Hamburg; in which case it would be only putting you to
the unnecessary expense of double postage.
I find you are sanguine about the King of Prussia this year; I allow his
army will be what you say; but what will that be 'vis-a-vis' French,

Austrians, Imperialists, Swedes, and Russians, who must amount to
more than double that number? Were the inequality less, I would allow
for the King of Prussia's being so much 'ipse agmen' as pretty nearly to
balance the account. In war, numbers are generally my omens; and, I
confess, that in Germany they seem not happy ones this year. In
America. I think, we are sure of success, and great success; but how we
shall be able to strike a balance, as they call it, between good success
there, and ill success upon the continent, so as to come at a peace; is
more than I can discover.
Lady Chesterfield makes you her compliments, and thanks you for your
offer; but declines troubling you, being discouraged by the ill success
of Madame Munchausen's and Miss Chetwynd's commissions, the
former for beef, and the latter for gloves; neither of which have yet
been executed, to the dissatisfaction of both. Adieu.

LETTER CCXL
LONDON, March 16, 1759
MY DEAR FRIEND: I have now your letter of the 20th past lying
before me, by which you despond, in my opinion too soon, of dubbing
your Prince; for he most certainly will have the Garter; and he will as
probably have it before the campaign opens, as after. His campaign
must, I doubt, at best be a defensive one; and he will show great skill in
making it such; for according to my calculation, his enemies will be at
least double his number. Their troops, indeed, may perhaps be worse
than his; but then their number will make up that defect, as it will
enable them to undertake different operations at the same time. I cannot
think that the King of Denmark will take a part in the present war;
which he cannot do without great possible danger; and he is well paid
by France for his neutrality; is safe, let what will turn out; and, in the
meantime, carries on his commerce with great advantage and security;
so that that consideration will not retard your visit to your own country,
whenever